Vending machine interlock mechanism



United States Patent 1.921.610 8/1933 Du Grenier ABSTRACT: A multiplegate vending machine interlock mechanism comprising a shaft having aplurality of loosely mounted interlock levers having normal positionsand individually connected to respective gates to be individually movedto an operated position in a direction other than axially of said shaftwhen a respective gate is moved to the vend position and to move thelevers axially as only one lever is moved to the operated position,there being'means to limit the axial movement of the levers in a mannerto simultaneously clutch and interlock the other interlock leversagainst movement to the operated position and thus prevent more than onesimultaneous vend.

II -s 2 PATENIED {K829 I976 SHEET 1 UF 2 Flag.

COIN SWITCH VENDING MACHINE INTERLOCK MECHANISM CROSS REFERENCES TORELATED PATENT APPLICATION So far as is known, this application is notrelated to any copending patent applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Multiple choice, multiple gate, coincontrolled vending machines have always required some form of interlockmechanism to prevent the operation of more than one vending gate duringa single coin released vending operation. Thereis constant desire tosimplify and improve the reliable operation of the interlock mechanism.The so-called slant shelf vending machine having a relatively largenumber of vending gates, particularly needs a simple and reliableinterlock mechanism for its vending gates and the interlock mechanism ofthis invention is especially suited for use with a slant shelf machine.

although it may also be used with any other form of multiple gatevending machine.

PRIOR ART Applicant is unaware of any prior patents disclosing aninterlock mechanism such as that described herein.

SUMMARY According to the invention, each gate of a multiple gate vendingmachine is connected to a respective interlock lever that is arranged tobe moved to an operated position as the gate is moved to the vendingposition. The interlock levers are loosely mounted on a single shaft inside by side relation in a normal position and there are fixed abutmentson either side of the group of interlock levers to limit the axialmovement of the levers in the direction of the axis of the shaft. Eachlever has a finite thickness in the direction of the axis of the shafton which the levers are mounted and the fixed abutments are spaced apartwith the levers therebetween by a distance equal to more than the totalthickness of all the levers. Each lever is provided with means, such asa raised cam surface, to move the levers axially to substantially fillthe space between the fixed abutments when not more than one lever ismoved to the operated position during a vending operation. Each lever isalso provided with interlocking clutch means operable in normalpositions of the levers to prevent movement to the operated position ofmore than one lever as they are axially moved to fill the space betweenthe abutments. This interlocking means may suitably be a complementaryrecess on one side of each lever in which the raised cam surface of theadjacent lever is received in their normal positions. Thus only onevending gate may be moved completely to a vending position during asingle vending operation. A coin control locking lever is provided toprevent the movement to the operated position of any and all of theinterlock levers until after a coin is received and the lock leverautomatically relocks the interlock levers against movement at the endof each vend cycle.

until the next coin is received.

Further objects, features and the attending advantages of the inventionwill be apparent with references to the following specification anddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view partiallybroken away of the upper part of a slant shelf vending machine showingthe individual vending gates and the associated interlock mechanism ofthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a side section taken on the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the interlock levers as seen from above;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the interlock levers as seen from oneend of the shaft on which the interlock levers are loosely mounted;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top view similar to FIG. 3 but showing theinterlock levers axially moved as one interlock lever is moved to theoperated position;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing the axial movement of theinterlock levers when a different one of the interlock levers is movedto the operated position; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic wiring diagram of one form of holding circuit forthe coin controlled unlocking lever.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 ofthe drawings, the interlock mechanism of the invention will be describedin connection with its application to a so-called slant shelf vendingmachine having a plurality of inclined shelves such as shown at 10through 17 on which bottles or cans are stored for vending. Each of theshelves 10-17 is provided with a vending gate mechanism of any wellknown type and for purposes of this description a simple form of gatemechanism having a respective pivotal gate member such as shown 'at20-27 for each respective shelf is provided. The gate members 20-27 areshown in their normal locking positions overlying the necks of thebottles to prevent removal of any of the bottles unless the respectivegate member 2027 is unlocked and pivoted in a counterclockwisedirection. For this purpose, each respective gate member 2027 isconnected by a respective connecting arm 30-37 to a respective one ofthe interlock levers 40-47 and a locking lever is normally interposed asshown by the solid lines of FIG. 1 and the dotted lines of FIG. 4 of thedrawings in the path of rotation for the respective interlock levers40-47 which thereby prevents movement of the connecting levers 30-37 andthe vending gate members 2027 from the locking position.

The interlock mechanism of the invention is arranged to prevent themovement of more than one of the vending gate members 2027 to the fullyopen vending position during a single vending cycle. The unlocking lever50 is raised to unlock the machine at the beginning of a vend cycle bythe energization of the solenoid 51 when a coin is deposited. Referringnow to FIGS. 4 through 6 of the drawings it is pointed out that each ofthe interlock levers 40-47 is loosely positioned on the shaft of bolt60. It should also. be noted that each of the interlock levers 40-47 hasa finite thickness in the direction of the axis of the bolt 60. Thegroup of interlock levers 40-47 is mounted on the shaft of the boltbetween two fixed abutments 6] and 62 that are spaced apart by adistance greater than the total thickness of all of the interlock levers40-47. In the particular form of the invention being described, thespacing between the fixed abutments 61 and 62 is equal to more than thetotal thickness of the interlocklevers plus the thickness of oneinterlock lever but not more than the total thickness plus the thicknessof two interlock levers. Thus the interlock levers 40-47 may moveaxially on the shaft 60 a limited distance as'determined by the spacingbetween the fixed abutments 61 and 62. Each one of the interlock levers40-47 is provided with a raised cam surface on one side and acomplementary indented recess on its other side which fit or interlocktogether as shown by FIG. 3 of the drawings when all of the interlocklevers-are in their normal angular positions while the vending gatemembers 2027 are in their normal locking positions.

Referring to FIG. 5 of the drawings, when a vending gate such as thegate member 20 is rotated counterclockwise to the vending position, theinterlock lever 40 will be rotated in the clockwise direction and thusmoved to an operated position with its raised cam surface 41a engagingthe nonrecessed surface of the fixed abutment 62. The resultant cammingaction moves the interlock lever 40 together with the other interlocklevers 41-47 axially of the shaft 60 into engagement with the otherfixed abutment 61. Thus all of the remaining interlock levers 41-47 arelocked in the normal angular positions with their cam surfaces andrecess surfaces interlocked as shown. To more clearly understand theclutching operation of the interlock lever, reference may be made toFIG. 6 of the drawings which shows the axial movement of the interlocklevers that takes place when a different interlock lever such as theinterlock lever 45 is the only interlock lever rotated in thecounterclockwise direction to an operated position upon movement of thevending gate 25 to the vending position. in any event it is seen thatonly one at a time of the interlock levers 4047 may be moved to theoperated position due to the axial movement which wedges and clutchesthe nonrotated levers in their normal angular positions. Inasmuch as theraised cam surface such as the raised cam surface 41a and thecomplementary recess 4112 are approximately equal to the thickness ofthe interlock lever, the spacing between the abutment 61 and 62 may beequal to slightly more than the total thickness of the interlock leversplus not more than the thickness of two interlock levers. Obviously thetype of raised cam surfaces and complementary recess surfaces may takevarious forms differing from the simple V-shape wedge described and thespacing between the fixed abutment 61 and 62 would be variedaccordingly. Also instead of the cam surfaces as described, splineclutches or the like may be used to clutch and engage the interlocklevers in a manner to prevent more than one interlock lever from beingrotated in response to an axial movement taking place during therotation of any one of the interlock levers.

Referring to FIG. 7 of the drawings, a holding circuit for the unlockinglever solenoid 51 is shown. Each of the vending gate members 27 isprovided with an associated normally closed switch 70-77 which is movedto the switch open position when a respective gate is moved to thevending position. The deposit of the coin for vending causes the coinswitch 78 to be momentarily closed completing an obvious energizingcircuit for the unlocking solenoid 50. The energization of the solenoid51 closes its normally open holding circuit contacts 52 so that theunlocking solenoid 51 remains energized through such holding circuitincluding all of the series connected normally closed gate switches70-77. When any one of the vending gates 2027 is moved to the vendingposition, its associated switch 7077 is opened to interrupt the holdingcircuit for the locking arm solenoid 51 and deenergize the same. Thespring 53 thereupon forces the locking arm 50 back in thecounterclockwise direction to ride on the raised cam surfaces of theinterlock levers such as shown at 40c and 440. As soon as the openvending gate is returned to the closed position upon removal of thebottle or can, all of the interlock levers will be in their normalangular positions and the locking lever 50 will drop down into the spacebetween the ends of the interlock levers 40-47, thus relocking themachine.

I claim:

1. An'interlock mechanism for a vending machine having a plurality ofvending gates and comprising, a shaft, a respective interlock lever foreach gate loosely mounted on said shaft in side by side relation, eachof said levers having a finite thickness in the direction of the axis ofsaid shaft, first and second fixed abutments positioned with said leverstherebetween and spaced from each other by a distance equal to more thanthe total thickness of all of said levers, means responsive to themovement of any one of said levers in a direction other than axially ofsaid shaft to an operated position to move the levers axially of saidshaft to substantially till the space between said abutments, clutchmeans to prevent the movement of others of said levers in a directionother than axially of said shaft while the one lever is moved to theoperated position and the other levers are moved axially of said shaftin the normal angular position substantially filling the space betweensaid abutments, and means connecting a respective interlock lever to arespective gate to thereby move the lever to the operated position asthe respective gate is moved to the open position for vending and backto the normal position as the vending gate returns to the closedposition.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which the means for moving the interlocklevers axially of the shaft as one interlock lever is moved to theoperated position is comprised of a raised cam surface on one side ofeach lever.

3. The invention of claim 1 in whlch the means for movmg the interlocklevers axially of the shaft as one interlock lever is moved to theoperated position is comprised of a raised cam surface on one side ofeach lever, and the clutch means for preventing movement to the operatedpositions of more than one interlock lever when the levers are movedaxially is comprised of an indented recess of the other side of eachlever and complementary to said raised cam surface and positioned toreceive the raised cam surface of an adjacent lever in the normalangular position.

4. The invention of claim 1 in which a coin controlled locking levermeans is provided to have a normal position to lock all of said leversagainst movement to the operated positions and is movable to a lockinglever operated position upon deposit of coin to release all of saidlevers, said locking lever being movable back to said normal lockingposition when the moved one of said interlock levers is returned to itsnormal position at the end of a vending operation.

5. The invention of claim 1 in which said first and second abutments arespaced from each other by a distance equal to the total thickness of allof said levers plus the thickness of more than one but not more than twoof said levers.

6. The invention of claim 5 in which the means for moving the interlocklevers axially of the shaft as one interlock lever is moved to theoperated position is comprised of a raised cam surface on one side ofeach lever having a height approximately equal to the thickness of eachlever.

7. The invention of claim 5 in which the means for moving the interlocklevers axially of the shaft as one interlock lever is moved to theoperated position is comprised of a raised cam surface on one side ofeach lever having a height approximately equal to the thickness of eachlever, and the clutch means for preventing movement to the operatedposition of more than one interlock lever when the levers are movedaxially is comprised of an indented recess on the other side of eachlever and complementary to said raised cam surface and positioned toreceive the raised cam surface of an adjacent lever in the normalangular position.

